Buoyant garment



Aug- 28, 1962 s. A. BxRcl-IALL 3,050,752

BUOYANT GARMENT Filed Oct. 13, 1958 Patented Aug. 2S, 1962 Fie 3,050,752 BUOYANT GARMENT Sylvia Aileen Birchall, 109 Lytton Blvd., Toronto 12, Ontario, Canada Filed Gct. 13, 1958, Ser. No. 767,053 1 Claim. (Cl. 9-334) This invention relates to a garment adapted to give the wearer buoyancy in water and in particular to a childs garment which can be worn by the child at play either in or out of the water.

The object of the invention is to provide a garment, particularly for infants, which is so constructed or formed that it can be worn without discomfort and will not, to an irritating extent, interfere with the childs freedom to play while out of the Water and yet will provide a safe buoyant device which will keep the childs head and face out of the Water should the child fall into the water or venture outside its depth.

Devices of this kind have heretofore been proposed but have had the one disadvantage that, while they provide adequate buoyancy, they do not invariably support the person, in the water, in a position which will keep the head and face above the Water.

It is therefore an object of my invention to provide a buoyant garment which will overcome the disadvantages above mentioned and which will provide a buoyant device that will oat a person so that the face is kept above the water surface.

A further object is to construct such a garment so that it can be worn by the child or infant at all times playing near a body of water without discomfort and without interfering with the childs freedom of action.

With these and other objects in View, the garment comprises a buoyant pants portion, a buoyant neck piece adapted to rest on the wearers shoulders and to substantially encircle the wearers neck, and a body por tion connecting the pants portion to the neck portion and having a substantially broad shoulder strap overlying each shoulder of the wearer, said neck piece being connected to the shoulder straps at least at each edge thereof.

A garment constructed in accordance with the present invention overcomes the objections or disadvantages of the prior art devices and will maintain the wearers head and face above the surface of the water and thus prevent drowning.

For an understanding of the invention, reference is to be had to the following description and the accompanying drawings which illustrate one embodiment of the same.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective front view of the garment showing it being worn by a child.

FIGURE 2 is a back view of FIGURE l,

FIGURE 3 is a vertical cross-section of the garment shown in FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view of another form of the invention.

The garment, as shown in the drawings, comprises a buoyant pants portion 10, a body portion 11, which is opened and closed at the back by means of a zipper 13 and a buoyant neck portion 12.

Fastened to the inside of the pants portion 10 is a buoyancy unit 14 consisting of a -water impermeable cover enclosing, in a water-tight manner, a buoyant -material such as kapok indicated by the numeral 15. The buoyant device 14 may be made in different shapes but I have found that one which is substantially ring-shaped and adapted to encircle the wearers body adjacent the hips and the upper ends of the thighs is satisfactory. If desired, the buoyant device 14 may be removably secured to the inside of the pants por-tion 10 in the position previously described.

The buoyant neck piece 12 has a water impermeable cover enclosing, in a Water-tight manner, a buoyant matcrial 18 such as kapok. If desired, the buoyant devices 12 and 14 may be separately made and removably attached to the pants portion and the body portion respectively. For example the neck piece 12 may be made as an envelope and the buoyant device 14, with its kapok lling 18, if it is of that type, may be removably entered therein.

The body portion has wide shoulder straps 16, 17, which are wide enough to substantially extend completely across the wearers shoulders from the wearers neck to the outside edge of the shoulder.

The buoyant neck piece 12 is adapted to completely surround the wearers neck, the ends meeting at the back indicated by the numeral 19 for easy removal. In the construction shown, the neck piece is shown as being made in two separate semi-circular pieces but if desired, it may be made in one piece which is split at the back to coincide with the back opening. The buoyant neck piece 12 is formed somewhat similar to a tube and has the inside rim secured, throughout its length, to the neck band 20 which is the inner edge of the upper necksurrounding part of body portion 11, the neck piece 12 being attached to the outside edge and the inside edge, respectively, of each shoulder strap as indicated at 2l and 22. It will be observed that the buoyant neck piece 1'2 extends a substantial distance beyond the outside edge of each of the shoulder straps, the point of attachment 21 being located substantially centrally of the bottom side of the neck piece 12 and the point of attachment 22 fastening the inside edge of the neck piece 12 to the neck band. When so attached the neck piece is held in a substantially horizontal plane relative to the wearers neck.

In its preferred construction, the neck piece 12 is of su'icient width that it extends beyond the shoulder and the outside edge of the shoulder straps are attached to the underside of the neck piece approximately midway between the edges.

As an alternative to the body portion shown in =FIG URES l, 2 and 3 ofthe drawings which completely covers the wearers trunk, the same may be replaced by crossed straps (FIGURE 4) which extend over the wearers shoulders and have their ends attached to 4the front and back of the pants portion. This is the customary design for a childs sunsuit.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are dened as follows:

I claim:

A garment adapted to give the wearer a buoyancy in water, comprising: a pair of pants, a buoyancy device secured to the inside of the pants and adapted to substantially encircle the wearers body in the region of the hips, Wide shoulder portions overlying each of the Wearers shoulders, said shoulder portions being connected to and forming a part of means adapted to support said pair of pants, a separate buoyant relatively wide and ilat and relatively exible neck piece adapted to substantially encircle the Wearers neck `and to overlie said shoulder portions and attached to said pants support means at the inner and outer edges of said pants support means, Whereby said neck piece is held substantially flat in a plane substantially perpendicular to the spinal column of the wearer.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Smack Nov. 5, Ross Oct. 30, Stosser 'Fe-b. 19, Bai-ley Jan. 25, Wosk Dec. 15, Temchin May 25, Sha-vv Jan. 1, Miller July 7, 

